Ben Affleck Says He’d ‘Still Be Drinking’ If He’d Stayed With Ex Jennifer Garner

Ben Affleck has shared his perspective on his re-formed relationship with Jennifer Lopez and much more in a lengthy and candid interview with Howard Stern which aired yesterday morning.

Affleck, 49, appeared on Stern’s Sirius XM show to promote his upcoming film The Tender Bar and discusses a wide range of topics like his long career, highly-publicized relationships, battles with addiction and initial hesitation towards getting back with Lopez.

Affleck told Stern the hesitation had little to do with Lopez, but with his children, and said, “My responsibility to my children is my biggest responsibility. I don’t want to do anything that is painful or destructive to them if I can help it.”

Affleck has joint custody of daughters Violet, 16, Seraphina,12, and son Samuel, 9, with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner. Affleck and Garner finalized their divorce in 2018, and the couple has remained amicable since then. Garner even joined Affleck and Lopez over Halloween this year to take their kids trick or treat together.

Affleck spoke about his divorce with Garner at length as well. He referred to tabloid coverage of their split at the time, “bulls–t,” likely referring to rumors that he had an affair with a nanny. On the marriage, he said, “The truth was we took our time, we made our decision, we grew apart… We tried because we had kids. We did not want it to be the model of marriage for the kids.” He later told Stern that he “would still be drinking” if he had stayed with Garner.

Lopez, 52, split with Yankees player Alex Rodriguez in April of this past year after dating since 2017 and made her relationship with Affleck public a couple of months later.

Affleck and Lopez first got together in 2002 after meeting on the set of the movie Gigli. He later appeared in her music video for “Jenny On The Block,” and the extensive tabloid coverage of their relationship reportedly caused Affleck a great deal of discomfort.